Russ Feingold Standing Tall on Iraq... and Standing Alone

With memos pouring out of the U.K. showing there was no planning for what to do after Baghdad fell and that "intelligence and facts were being fixed"; with the number of dead American soldiers now over 1,700; and with nearly 60 percent of Americans turning against the war, what is the Democratic leadership waiting for before they finally stand up to the White House? Where are Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Howard Dean on a moral issue of this magnitude, on which the majority of Americans oppose the administration?

While Democrats are criss-crossing the country, holding conclaves in search of what the party should stand for, Russ Feingold will introduce a resolution in the Senate today calling on the President to create a timetable for withdrawing American troops from Iraq. Thank God at least one prominent Dem has the good sense to know what the party should stand for -- and, just as importantly, the cojones to act on that knowledge. As for the House, the leadership against the war in Iraq is now in the hands of Walter Jones, a conservative -- and formerly war-promoting -- GOP congressman from North Carolina.

On last week's Meet the Press, Joe Biden said that a military draft "is going to become a subject if in fact there is a 40 percent shortfall in recruitment. It's just a reality." But the best thing for the health of our Army would be to institute a draft for an opposition party. Right now, it seems, there aren't enough willing to serve voluntarily.